Methods and systems for determining user engagement based on user interactions during different time intervals

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described herein for determining a level of user engagement based on user interactions. A media guidance application is configured to retrieve a first record of a first plurality of user inputs, including input type, received during consumption of a media asset. A second time interval, prior to the first time interval, is selected by shifting the first start time and the first end time. A second record of a second plurality of user inputs received during the second time interval, including input type, is retrieved. A first media asset consumed during the first time interval and a second media asset consumed during the second time interval are determined, and the level of user engagement for the first media asset is determined based on the first record and the second record.

BACKGROUND

Various systems for determining user engagement are available toadvertisers. These systems usually track user engagement by collectingdata on users' interactions with media assets. The collected data isanalyzed, and a degree of engagement for each user is calculated. Thedegrees of engagement are aggregated and a general user engagement levelis determined. For example, if one hundred users watched a movie, and,of those users, forty fast-forwarded a portion of the movie, whileanother forty changed a channel away from the movie and then back to themovie, the user engagement score may not be very positive for thatmovie. In contrast, if eighty out of one hundred users watched the moviefrom start to finish, twenty watched certain portions multiple times,and some of the users posted positive comments about the movie on socialmedia, the movie may get a very positive score.

This approach has various shortcomings. For example, this approach doesnot account for differences in behavior between various users. Forexample, some users habitually change channels multiple times whenconsuming media, while others do not. Thus, the approach taken bycurrent systems does not account for those differences. In anotherexample, some users historically post their comments on social mediaabout movies they watch, while others usually do not. Thus, a userposting a comment about a movie does not indicate that the user isengaged with the movie more than with any other movie. In contrast, notposting a comment about a movie may not be an indication that aparticular user is not engaged with the movie.

SUMMARY

Therefore, systems and methods are disclosed herein for determining alevel of user engagement based on user interactions with a media assetas compared with a historical record of user interactions with othermedia assets. For example, an advertiser may be interested inadvertising a product to a set of users. However, the advertiser mayrequire that an advertisement be transmitted to those users who areengaged and are likely to pay attention to the advertisement. Therefore,it may be advantageous that an advertisement for a product be insertedinto a media asset that the user is engaged with versus a media assetthat the user is not engaged with. In addition, it may be advantageousto insert the advertisement into an advertisement slot that isassociated with a high degree of user engagement. Thus, the systemdescribed herein may calculate users' engagement with a media asset andseparately with a specific advertisement slot in order to determinewhether to transmit an advertisement during a specific media assetpresentation or during a specific advertisement slot.

In some aspects, a media guidance application may be configured todetermine a level of user engagement based on user interactions.Specifically, the media guidance application may select a first timeinterval (e.g., a time interval of a media asset that is being played bythe media guidance application). The media guidance application mayrecord all user inputs during this time interval and create a record ofthose inputs. The media guidance application may shift backwards thefirst start time and the first end time (e.g., one day, one week, oranother suitable time amount) to generate a second start time and asecond end time for a second time interval. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve a second plurality of inputs (i.e., those userinputs associated with a time period between the second start time andthe second end time), and determine a first frequency corresponding toeach type of user inputs during the first time interval and a secondfrequency corresponding to each type of user inputs during the secondtime interval. The media guidance application may generate a firstmetric that describes the first frequency and a second metric thatdescribes that second frequency, and determine the first media asset andthe second media asset during the first time interval and the secondtime interval, respectively. The media guidance application may tag thefirst media asset with the first metric and the second media asset withthe second metric, and determine the level of user engagement of thefirst media asset based on the tagging. It should be noted that themedia guidance application may tag the first media asset with the firstmetric by associating or appending the first metric to the first mediaasset. Different ways to perform these operations are described below.

For example, the media guidance application may be configured todetermine user engagement for a specific movie (e.g., “The Terminator”)that is being broadcast between 8 PM and 10 PM. The media guidanceapplication may select a first time interval based on a first start timeand a first end time. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the time interval between 8 PM and 10 PM as the first timeinterval and 8 PM as the first start time and 10 PM as the first endtime. Alternatively, the media guidance application may be configured todetermine user engagement for a specific scene in “The Terminator,” thusselecting the start of the scene as the first start time, and the end ofthe scene as the first end time. In some embodiments, user engagementmay be determined for on-demand media assets. For example, the user maybe consuming “The Terminator” from a video-on-demand service instead offrom a broadcast channel.

The media guidance application may collect user input during the abovetime period (8 PM to 10 PM) and record that user input together withtypes of input. Specifically, the media guidance application mayretrieve a first record of a first plurality of user inputs receivedduring the first time interval, where the first record indicates aninput type for each of the first plurality of user inputs. For example,the media guidance application may collect user input as received from aremote control device or from an onscreen input device (e.g., onscreeninput collected from an electronic tablet). User input may includechannel changes, power on/off commands, volume changes, informationrequests about the media asset, and other suitable input. The mediaguidance application may store that user input as a record. If anon-demand media asset is being consumed by the user, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve a record for the time period that the mediaasset was being consumed.

The media guidance application may select a second time interval suchthat user input associated with the first time interval may be comparedwith user input associated with the second time period. Specifically,the media guidance application may select a second time interval, priorto the first time interval, by shifting the first start time and thefirst end time to determine a second start time and a second end timefor the second time interval. For example, the media guidanceapplication may shift the time period by one week, one day, or onemonth. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may shift thetime interval multiple times (e.g., two one-day shifts). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may shift the first starttime (e.g., by one week) and identify the media asset that the user wasconsuming at that time. The media guidance application may determine thestart time and the end time of that media asset and use that start timeand end time as the second start time and the second end time for thesecond time interval.

The media guidance application may retrieve user interactions associatedwith the second time interval in order to perform the comparison.Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve a secondrecord of a second plurality of user inputs received during the secondtime interval, where the second record indicates an input type for eachof the second plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may have shifted the time interval by one week. Thus, thesecond time interval, in this example, is 8 PM to 10 PM on the same day,but a week before the first time interval. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve (e.g., from a database) user interactions thatoccurred during that second time interval. Those user interactions mayinclude an input type of each input received between 8 PM and 10 PM onthe same day, but a week prior to the first time interval. In someembodiments as described above, the media guidance application may shiftthe first time interval and a second time interval by different timeperiods based on the start time and the end time of the second mediaasset. For example, if the second media asset starts at 8:15 PM and endsat 10:25 PM, the media guidance application may retrieve, as the secondrecord, user inputs received during that time interval.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may shift the firsttime period based on different criteria. For example, if the first mediaasset is part of a series (e.g., “Game of Thrones”), the media guidanceapplication may shift the time period to a media asset in that seriesthat was previously consumed by the user. The media guidance applicationmay shift the time period based on a type of program (e.g., movie, news,sit-com, or another suitable type), a genre of the program (e.g.,comedy, drama, or another suitable genre), part of the day (e.g., if thefirst media asset is being consumed in the morning, the media guidanceapplication may shift to another morning time period when the user wasconsuming content). In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay shift the time period based on a season number of a series of mediaassets. For example, the media guidance application may shift to a mediaasset of the same season within the series or to and episode in anotherseason within the series.

The media guidance application may analyze the first record to determinethe type of input that was received from the user during the first timeinterval and how often input of different input types was received.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval. For example, during the first timeinterval, the user may have changed the channel four times, switched theset-top box off once, and turned it back on once. The user may also havedecreased the volume by fifteen percent and then also increased thevolume by ten percent. The media guidance application may sort all thatinput data and determine the frequency of each type of input.

The media guidance application may analyze the second record todetermine the type of input that was received from the user during thesecond time interval and how often input of different input types wasreceived from the user. Specifically, the media guidance application maydetermine a second frequency of each input type of the second pluralityof user inputs during the second time interval. For example, during thesecond time interval the user may have changed the channel twice andhave taken no other action. The media guidance application may sort allthat input data and determine the frequency of each type of input.

The media guidance application may store the first plurality of userinputs and the second plurality of user inputs, including the first andsecond frequencies, as metrics. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may generate a first metric that describes the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval. The media guidance application may alsogenerate a second metric that describes the second frequency of eachinput type of the second plurality of user inputs during the second timeinterval. For example, the media guidance application may create datastructures corresponding to the first plurality of user inputs and thesecond plurality of user inputs in order to store the informationcorresponding to the first metric and the second metric, respectively.

The media guidance application may determine media assets that the userwas consuming during the first and second time intervals, respectively.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a first mediaasset consumed during the first time interval and a second media assetconsumed during the second time interval. For example, the mediaguidance application may identify all media assets that the user wasconsuming during the first and second time intervals, respectively. Themedia guidance application may determine which media asset the userspent the largest amount of time consuming during the first timeinterval and the second time interval, respectively. The media guidanceapplication may set the media asset that the user spent the largestamount of time consuming during the first time interval as the firstmedia asset and also set the media asset that the user spent the largestamount of time consuming during the second time interval as the secondmedia asset.

The media guidance application may link the first media asset with thefirst metric and the second media asset with the second metric, and,based on the information in the first and second metrics, determine theuser's level of engagement with respect to the first media asset.Specifically, the media guidance application may tag the first mediaasset with the first metric and the second media asset with the secondmetric, and determine the level of user engagement for the first mediaasset based on the tagging. For example, if the first metric includesfour channel changes, a set-top box off command, a set-top box oncommand, and multiple volume changes, and the second metric includesjust two channel changes, the media guidance application may determinethat the user was engaged more with the second media asset than thefirst media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aninput type associated with each user input by taking the followingactions. The media guidance application may receive, from a user, thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each user input in the firstplurality of user inputs comprises an identification code. For example,if the user input is received from a remote control, each input may beassociated with a specific code that instructs the user device (e.g., aset-top box) to take a specific action (e.g., change channel, power off,or another suitable action).

This code may be used to identify the type of action or type of userinput. The media guidance application may transmit, to a database, aplurality of queries requesting an input type for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each query in the plurality ofqueries includes a respective identification code for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may be able to access a database that stores different userinput identification codes and associated user inputs. The mediaguidance application may query the database for a user input typeassociated with a specific code in order to determine the type of userinput that was received.

The media guidance application may receive, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs. For example, if the media guidance application transmits to thedatabase a code corresponding to a channel change input, the mediaguidance application may receive back a type associated with the command(e.g., channel change). The database may perform a look-up of the codeand find the associated input type. The media guidance application maystore the received data. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay store, for each input in the first plurality of user inputs, anassociated input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may iterate througheach input in order to determine the associated input type and, based onthe associated input type, calculate a frequency of each input type.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may identify, for the first plurality of userinputs, a plurality of different input types, and iterate, for eachinput type in the plurality of different input types, through the firstplurality of user inputs. As the media guidance application iteratesthrough each input type, the media guidance application may update arespective frequency count for each input type in the plurality ofdifferent input types when an input of the first plurality of userinputs matches a respective input type.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that the firstplurality of inputs includes a channel change to a different channel, achannel change back to the original channel, a power off command, apower on command, and a volume increase command. As a result, the mediaguidance application may identify four input types: channel change,power off, power on, and volume change. The media guidance applicationmay determine a frequency for each input type (i.e., two channelchanges, one power on, one power off, and one volume change).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize a datastructure that is able to store the different input types and afrequency for each different input type as a vector. Specifically, themedia guidance application may, when generating the first metric thatdescribes the first frequency of each input type of the first pluralityof user inputs during the first time interval, generate a vector with adata structure that includes a plurality of different input types and acorresponding frequency of user inputs for each input type of theplurality of different input types. For example, the media guidanceapplication may initialize a data structure that contains all user inputtypes that have been received from the user during a specific timeinterval (e.g., the first time interval) and, for each user input type,include a field for the frequency of each input type. In someembodiments, other fields may be added to the data structure (e.g., atime field that includes a time for each user input in each user inputtype). Other fields may include start and end channel for channelchanges, starting volume and ending volume for volume changes, and othersuitable fields.

In some embodiments the media guidance application may determine themedia asset that the user was consuming during a time interval (e.g.,the first time interval or the second time interval) by taking thefollowing actions. The media guidance application may, when determiningthe first media asset consumed during the first time interval, identify,based on the first record, one or more media assets that a user consumedduring the first interval, determine, based on the first record,respective amounts of time that the user spent consuming each of the oneor more media assets, and determine the first media asset based on therespective amounts of time. For example, if the user was switchingchannels while consuming media content during a specific time interval,the media guidance application may determine which channels the user wasconsuming content from and the amounts of times spent consuming eachchannel. If the media guidance application determines that the userspent five minutes consuming channel five, three minutes consumingchannel three, and forty-two consuming channel seven, the media guidanceapplication may select the media asset broadcast from channel sevenduring the first time period as the first media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize multipletime intervals for comparison. For example, the media guidanceapplication may calculate, in a manner similar to that described above,metrics for other time periods and create an average metric (i.e., abaseline) of user engagement for the specific user. Specifically, themedia guidance application may generate a shifting time by applying amultiplier to the first start time, determine a third time interval byshifting the first start time and the first end time by the shiftingtime, and update the second metric with a third plurality of user inputsreceived during the third time interval. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may average the second metric over the two timeintervals (i.e., divide every frequency associated with each input typeby a factor of two). It should be noted that this process may beperformed for multiple time intervals to create a baseline over aspecific length of time.

For example, the media guidance application may collect user input overtwo-hour time intervals every Monday night for one month, two months, orfor another time period and average out all types of user input, therebycreating a baseline of what the user's usual level of engagement is.Those average input numbers may be compared with the input numbers forthe time interval for which user engagement is being calculated. A userengagement level may be determined based on the comparison.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may tag the mediaassets by generating a data structure for each vector and linking thatdata structure to the media asset (e.g., by a pointer). Specifically,the media guidance application may, when tagging the first media assetwith the first metric, generate a data structure for storing the firstmetric, where the data structure includes a first field for each inputtype associated with the first metric and a second field for a frequencycorresponding to a respective input type that is associated with thefirst metric, and store with metadata associated with the first mediaasset a link to the data structure. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a data structure (e.g., an array or a similarlysuited data structure) that includes a field for each input type and afield for each frequency (e.g., channel change field that has a value offour). That data structure may be linked to the media asset by a link ora pointer that is stored within the metadata associated with the mediaasset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine theuser's level of engagement based on a percent difference between userinteractions during the first time interval and the second timeinterval. Specifically, the media guidance application may, whendetermining the level of user engagement for the media asset based onthe tagging, compare the first frequency of each input type in the firstplurality of user inputs with a corresponding second frequency of eachinput type in the second plurality of user inputs, and calculaterespective percent differences between the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs and a corresponding secondfrequency in the second plurality of user inputs. The media guidanceapplication may determine the level of user engagement for the firstmedia asset based on the respective percent differences.

For example, if the media guidance application determines that the firstplurality of user inputs includes eight channel changes, four poweron/off commands, four mute/unmute commands, and also determines that thesecond plurality of user inputs includes two channel change commands,two power on/off commands, two mute/unmute commands, the media guidanceapplication may determine the percent difference between these numbers.Specifically, the media guidance application may calculate the percentdifference between the channel changes in the first plurality of inputsand the second plurality of inputs, and likewise between mute/unmutecommands and power on/off commands in the first and second pluralitiesof inputs.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare inputsof a user with average inputs of other users that are similar to theuser. Specifically, the first plurality of user inputs may includeinputs generated by a first user, and the second plurality of userinputs may include inputs generated by a plurality of users that aresimilar to the first user. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine similarity of users based on users' demographics (e.g.,age, gender, and other suitable demographics). In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine similarity of users based onusers' viewing preference (e.g., preferences in a user's media assetconsumption profile). Those preferences may include preferences formovie genres, music genres, and other suitable preferences). In yet someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine similaritybetween users based on the users' social media connections (e.g.,friends on a social network).

In some aspects, the media guidance application may determine userengagement based on user interactions during a specific advertisementslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may select a firstadvertisement slot and generate a record of user inputs, including inputtypes, during that advertisement slot. The media guidance applicationmay select a second advertisement slot for comparison such that thesecond advertisement slot overlaps with the first advertisement slot(i.e., where at least one of a start time and an end time of the secondadvertisement slot is between the start time and the end time of thefirst advertisement slot). The media guidance application may retrieve arecord of user inputs for the second advertisement slot. The mediaguidance application may determine a first frequency for each input typeand a second frequency for each input type for user input during thefirst advertisement slot and a second advertisement slot, respectively,and generate a first metric and a second metric for respective first andsecond advertisement slots. The media guidance application may determineuser engagement for the first advertisement slot based on the firstmetric (i.e., user input during the first advertisement slot).

The media guidance application may, when determining user engagementbased on user interactions during a specific advertisement slot, selecta first advertisement slot, where the first advertisement slot has afirst start time and a first end time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine user engagement for a specific advertisementslot with a specific start time and end time (e.g., between 5:30 PM and5:33 PM). The media guidance application may select the advertisementslot based on user input. Additionally or alternatively, theadvertisement slot selection may be pre-programmed (e.g., for a specifictime, a set of specific times, or based on other suitable criteria).

The media guidance application may generate a record of user input,including input type, from specific users (e.g., for a specificdemographic, a specific set of users, or based on another suitablecriteria) during the first advertisement slot. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may retrieve a first record of a first plurality ofuser inputs from a first plurality of users received during the firstadvertisement slot, where the first record indicates an input type foreach of the first plurality of user inputs. For example, the mediaguidance application may collect input for all users between the ages oftwenty-five and thirty-five during the first advertisement slot. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may select those users, forthe first plurality of users, whose set-top boxes have been tuned to thechannel associated with the first advertisement slot. The media guidanceapplication may also identify a type of each user input and store thatuser input with a respective type for the first advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may select a second advertisement slotthat overlaps the first advertisement slot. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may select a second advertisement slot, where thesecond advertisement slot has a second start time and a second end time,and where at least one of the second start time and the second end timefalls between the first start time and the first end time. For example,the media guidance application may scan all channels broadcast to aplurality of users and identify an advertisement slot that overlaps thefirst advertisement slot. If the media guidance application identifiesseveral advertisement slots that overlap the first advertisement slot,the media guidance application may utilize different algorithms toselect one of those advertisement slots.

For example, the media guidance application may select the secondadvertisement slot at random (i.e., using a randomizing algorithm). Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may select the secondadvertisement slot based on similarity of advertisements within theslot. For example, if both the first advertisement slot and a potentialsecond advertisement slot include an advertisement for a car, the mediaguidance application may select the potential second advertisement slotas the second advertisement slot. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may select the second advertisement slot based onsimilarity of media assets that surround the advertisement slots. Forexample, if both the first advertisement slot and the potential secondadvertisement slot are inserted during action movies, the media guidanceapplication may select the potential second advertisement slot as thesecond advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may retrieve user input, including inputtype, from specific users during the second advertisement slot.Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve a secondrecord of a second plurality of user inputs from a second plurality ofusers received during the second advertisement slot, where the secondrecord indicates an input type for each of the second plurality of userinputs. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve userinput for the same demographic of users (e.g., users twenty-five tothirty-five years old). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may select those users, for the second plurality of users,whose set-top boxes have been tuned to the channel associated with thesecond advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may identify an input type for each userinput during the first advertisement slot and correlate how many inputsof each type were received. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay determine a first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first advertisement slot. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that during thefirst advertisement slot twenty percent of users that were tuned intothe channel associated with the first advertisement slot muted thesound, forty percent changed the channel, ten percent transmitted apower-off command and the rest of the users did not take any actionduring the first advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may identify an input type for each userinput during the second advertisement slot and correlate how many inputsof each type were received. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay determine a second frequency of each input type of the secondplurality of user inputs during the second advertisement slot. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that, during thesecond advertisement slot, thirty percent of users that were tuned intothe channel associated with the second advertisement slot muted thesound, fifty percent changed the channel, ten percent transmitted apower-off command, and the rest of the users did not take any actionduring the second advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may store the user input for the firstadvertisement slot correlated with input type as a first metric.Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a first metricthat describes the first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first advertisement slot. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate a data structurewith two fields, input type and frequency, for each input type to holdthe information for the first advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may store the user input for the secondadvertisement slot correlated with input type as a second metric.Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a secondmetric that describes the second frequency of each input type of thesecond plurality of user inputs during the second advertisement slot.For example, the media guidance application may generate a datastructure with two fields, input type and frequency, for each input typeto hold the information for the second advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may link the first and second metricswith their corresponding advertisement slots. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may assign to the first advertisement slot thefirst metric and to the second advertisement slot the second metric. Forexample, the media guidance application may store a pointer in themetadata of the first advertisement slot that points to the firstmetric, and may also store a pointer in the metadata of the secondadvertisement slot that points to the second metric. Additionally oralternatively, the media guidance application may store the pointer inthe metadata associated with the first metric and the second metric thatpoints to the first advertisement slot and the second advertisementslot, respectively.

The media guidance application may determine a level of user engagementfor the first advertisement slot by comparing the assigned metrics.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a level ofuser engagement for the first advertisement slot based on the firstmetric and the second metric. For example, if a smaller number of userschange a channel away from the first advertisement slot than from thesecond advertisement slot, the media guidance application may determinethat the first advertisement slot has a higher engagement level.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aninput type associated with each user input by taking the followingactions. The media guidance application may receive, from a user, thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each user input in the firstplurality of user inputs comprises an identification code. For example,if the user input is received from a remote control, each input may beassociated with a specific code that instructs the user device (e.g., aset-top box) to take a specific action (e.g., change channel, power off,or another suitable action).

This code may be used to identify the type of action or type of userinput. The media guidance application may transmit, to a database, aplurality of queries requesting an input type for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each query in the plurality ofqueries includes a respective identification code for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may be able to access a database that stores different userinput identification codes and associated user inputs. The mediaguidance application may query the database using a specific code inorder to determine the type of user input that was received.

The media guidance application may receive, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs. For example, if the media guidance application transmits to thedatabase a code corresponding to a channel change input, the mediaguidance application may receive back a type associated with the command(e.g., channel change). The database may perform a look-up of the codeand find the associated input type. The media guidance application maystore the received data. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay store, for each input in the first plurality of user inputs, anassociated input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may iterate througheach input in order to determine the associated input type and, based onthe associated input type, calculate a frequency of each input type.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may identify, for the first plurality of userinputs, a plurality of different input types, and iterate, for eachinput type in the plurality of different input types, through the firstplurality of user inputs. As the media guidance application iteratesthrough each input type, the media guidance application may update arespective frequency count for each input type in the plurality ofdifferent input types when an input of the first plurality of userinputs matches a respective input type.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that the firstplurality of inputs includes a channel change to a different channel, apower off command, and a volume increase command. As a result, the mediaguidance application may identify three input types: channel change,power off, and volume change. The media guidance application maydetermine a frequency for each input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize a datastructure that is able to store the different input types and afrequency for each different input type as a vector. Specifically, themedia guidance application may, when generating the first metric thatdescribes the first frequency of each input type of the first pluralityof user inputs during the first time interval, generate a vector with adata structure that includes a plurality of different input types and acorresponding frequency of user inputs for each input type of theplurality of different input types. For example, the media guidanceapplication may initialize a data structure that contains all user inputtypes that have been received during the first advertisement slot and,for each user input type, include a field for the frequency of eachinput type. In some embodiments, other fields may be added to the datastructure (e.g., a time field that includes a time for each user inputin each user input type). Other fields may include start and end channelfor channel changes, starting volume and ending volume for volumechanges, and other suitable fields.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may furtherdetermine users' engagement level with an advertisement slot bydetecting whether specific users are disregarding the media contentassociated with the corresponding advertisement slot. Specifically, themedia guidance application may determine that one or more users of thefirst plurality of users are disregarding media content during the firstadvertisement slot, and in response to the determining, update the firstmetric with an amount of time that the one or more users have beendisregarding the media content. For example, the media guidanceapplication may utilize a camera connected to a set-top box to determinewhether a specific user is looking at the media content being presentedor whether the specific user is looking away. If the specific user islooking away, the media guidance application may record a time periodbetween the time the user started looking away and the time the userturned back to view the media asset. It should be noted that detectingwhether specific users are disregarding the media content associatedwith the corresponding advertisement slot in order to detect users'engagement level with an advertisement slot may be performed in certainembodiments, and not be performed in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select thesecond advertisement slot based on the similarity of productsadvertisement in the first advertisement slot and a plurality ofpotential second advertisement slots. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may identify a plurality of advertisement slots, where atleast one of the second start time and the second end time falls betweenthe first start time and the first end time. The media guidanceapplication may determine a respective product category associated witheach advertisement slot of the plurality of advertisement slots andcompare a product category associated with the first advertisement slotwith the respective product category associated with each advertisementslot of the plurality of advertisement slots. The media guidanceapplication may select the second advertisement slot based on thecomparing.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that there arefive advertisement slots that overlap the first advertisement slot. Themedia guidance application may determine that the first advertisementslot includes an advertisement for a car. The media guidance applicationmay further determine that one of the plurality of advertisement slotsincludes an advertisement for a car, while others include advertisementsfor other products. The media guidance application may select theadvertisement slot that includes an advertisement for a car as thesecond advertisement slot.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate aspecific data structure for each metric. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may, when assigning the first advertisement slotthe first metric and the second advertisement slot the second metric,generate a data structure for storing the first metric, where the datastructure includes a first field for each input type associated with thefirst metric and a second field for a frequency corresponding to arespective input type that is associated with the first metric, andstore with metadata associated with the first advertisement slot a linkto the data structure. For example, the media guidance application maycreate a multi-dimensional array or another suitable data structure tostore the first metrics.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine alevel of user engagement for the first advertisement slot based on thefirst metric and the second metric by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may compare the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs with a corresponding secondfrequency of each input type in the second plurality of user inputs,calculate respective percent differences between the first frequency ofeach input type in the first plurality of user inputs and acorresponding second frequency in the second plurality of user inputs,and determine the level of user engagement for the first advertisementslot based on the respective percent differences.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that the firstmetric includes input from one thousand users such that three hundredusers muted the volume when the advertisement slot started, four hundredusers switched to a different channel when the advertisement started,and the other users took no action. The media guidance application mayfurther determine that the second metric includes input from twothousand users such that one hundred users muted the volume when theadvertisement slot started, two hundred users switched to a differentchannel when the advertisement started, and the other users took noaction. The media guidance application may compare the respective typesof user input and determine percent differences for each type. Once thepercent differences are determined, the media guidance application mayaverage them out to determine an engagement level associated with thefirst advertisement slot.

It should be noted that examples described herein compare the user inputfor the first advertisement slot with one other advertisement slot.However, in some embodiments, the media guidance application may compareuser input for the first advertisement slot with average inputs for aplurality of advertisement slots. The average may be weighted based onfactors such as similarity of products.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select similarusers for the first plurality and the second plurality. Specifically,the media guidance application may select the first plurality of usersand the second plurality of users such that those users share a commoncharacteristic. For example, the media guidance application may selectusers that like action movies based on the respective profilesassociated with those users. Specifically, if one thousand users aretuned into a first channel associated with the first advertisement slotand two thousand users are tuned into a second channel associated withthe second advertisement, the media guidance application may select onlythose users for the first and second pluralities that prefer actionmovies based on their respective profiles. The media guidanceapplication may also select users based on their demographics (e.g., menbetween the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five). In some embodiments,the media guidance application may select users that share multiplecharacteristics (e.g., demographics and media asset preferences).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustration of two data structures that may be used indetermining a level of user engagement associated with a media asset orwith an advertisement slot, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative device, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative process for determining a level of userengagement associated with a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative process involved in determining afrequency associated with each type of user input, in accordance withsome embodiments of this disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative process involved in generating a vectorfor user input data, in accordance with some embodiments of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative process involved in identifying a contentsource that the user consumed the greatest amount of time during a timeperiod, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure; and

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative process for determining a level of userengagement associated with an advertisement slot, in accordance withsome embodiments of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for a media guidanceapplication configured to determine a level of user engagementassociated with a media asset. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may select a first time interval (e.g., a time interval of amedia asset that is being played by the media guidance application). Themedia guidance application may record all user inputs during this timeinterval and create a record of those inputs. The media guidanceapplication may shift backwards the first start time and the first endtime (e.g., one day, one week, or another suitable time amount) togenerate a second start time and a second end time for a second timeinterval. The media guidance application may retrieve a second pluralityof inputs (i.e., those user inputs associated with a time period betweenthe second start time and the second end time), and determine a firstfrequency corresponding to each type of user inputs during the firsttime interval and a second frequency corresponding to each type of userinputs during the second time interval. The media guidance applicationmay generate a first metric that describes the first frequency and asecond metric that describes that second frequency, and determine thefirst media asset and the second media asset during the first timeinterval and the second time interval, respectively. The media guidanceapplication may tag the first media asset with the first metric and thesecond media asset with the second metric, and determine the level ofuser engagement of the first media asset based on the tagging. It shouldbe noted that the media guidance application may tag the first mediaasset with the first metric by associating or appending the first metricto the first media asset. Different ways to perform these operations aredescribed below.

The media guidance application may reside on user television equipment502 (FIG. 5), user computer equipment 504 (FIG. 5), and/or wireless usercommunications device 506 (FIG. 5). In some embodiments, some or all ofthe media guidance application may be located at media content source516 and/or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5). In some embodiments,portions of the media guidance application may be located on all devicesdescribed above.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select a firsttime interval based on a first start time and a first end time. Forexample, the media guidance application may be configured to determineuser engagement for a specific movie (e.g., “The Terminator”) that isbeing broadcast between 8 PM and 10 PM. The media guidance applicationmay determine that the start time for the movie “Terminator” is 8 PM andthe end time is 10 PM. Specifically, the media guidance application mayaccess program listings for the movie “Terminator” in order to determinethe movie's start time and end time. The media guidance application mayaccess the listings residing in storage 408 (FIG. 4) or those thatreside at a remote location (e.g., media content source 516 and/or mediaguidance data source 518). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may first attempt to obtain the program listings locallybefore trying to access those listings remotely. Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may be configured todetermine user engagement for a select scene in “The Terminator,” thusselecting the start of the scene as the first start time, and the end ofthe scene as the first end time. The media guidance application mayaccess the metadata associated with “The Terminator” (e.g., from storage408 (FIG. 4), media content source 516 (FIG. 5) or from media guidancedata source 518 (FIG. 5)).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may shift the timeperiod based on a type of program (e.g., movie, news, sit-com, oranother suitable type). If for example, the first media asset is amovie, the media guidance application may shift the first time intervalto another movie that the user has previously consumed. The mediaguidance application may retrieve from the user's profile a list ofmedia assets that the user has consumed together with the correspondingtime intervals. The media guidance application may identify the moviesin the list and select the latest movie that the user has previouslyconsumed. The media guidance application may retrieve from a mediaguidance listing associated with the movie the start time and the endtime of the movie and user those times as the second time interval.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use a genre ofthe program (e.g., comedy, drama, or another suitable genre) to shiftthe time interval. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine, from metadata associated with the first media asset the genreof the media asset (e.g., comedy). The media guidance application maydetermine, based on the user's profile, and as described above, a mediaasset that the user has previously consumed that is of the same genre asthe first media asset. The media guidance application may retrieve thestart time and the end time of that media asset and use those times asthe second time interval. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may use part of the day to shift the first time interval(e.g., if the first media asset is being consumed in the morning, themedia guidance application may shift to another morning time period whenthe user was consuming content). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may shift the time period based on a season number of theseries. It should be noted that the media guidance application maycombine these factors to shift the time period. For example, the mediaguidance application may shift the first time period based the part ofthe day and the genre of the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay (e.g., on display 412) an option for a user to input (e.g., viauser input interface 410 (FIG. 4) the start and end times. The mediaguidance application may store the start time and the end time instorage 408 (FIG. 4). In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may store the start time and the end time remotely (e.g., atmedia content source 516 (FIG. 5) and/or media guidance data source 518(FIG. 5)).

The media guidance application may collect user input during the firsttime interval (e.g., between 8 PM and 10 PM) and record that user inputtogether with types of input. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve a first record of a first plurality of userinputs received during the first time interval, where the first recordindicates an input type for each user input of the first plurality ofuser inputs. For example, the media guidance application may receive(via user input interface 410 (FIG. 4)) user input continuously andstore that user input (e.g., in storage 408 (FIG. 4)). The mediaguidance application may determine an input type of each user input asthat input is collected. In some embodiments, user engagement may bedetermined for on-demand media assets. For example, the user may beconsuming “The Terminator” from a video-on-demand service instead offrom a broadcast channel. In these embodiments, the first time intervalmay be the time interval that the user is consuming the on-demand mediaasset. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the time intervalmay include multiple start times and end times, if the user is consumingthe media asset in multiple sessions (e.g., if the user pauses the mediaasset at a certain point and then continues consuming the media assetagain at a later time from that point).

In order to determine the input type of each user input, the mediaguidance application may retrieve (e.g., from storage 408) an identifierassociated with each input and generate (e.g., via control circuitry404) a database query to a database that stores input identifiers andcorresponding input types. The database may reside locally (e.g., instorage 408 (FIG. 4) or remotely (e.g., at media content source 516(FIG. 5) and/or at media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)). User inputtypes may include channel changes, power on/off commands, volumechanges, information requests about the media asset, and other suitableinput types. The media guidance application may store the user inputtogether with the input types as a record (e.g., in storage 408 (FIG.4)).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may transmit eachinput together with information related to each input (e.g., time stamp,type, source and target for a channel change command, and other suitableinformation) to a database that stores input information for multipleusers and multiple time intervals. Additionally or alternatively, themedia guidance application may store each input and the associatedinformation in a data structure locally (e.g., in storage 408 (FIG. 4)).The media guidance application may store a portion of user inputs (e.g.,the last two hours, four hours, or another suitable portion) and removeolder user input entries in order to preserve local storage. Since acopy of the information is periodically sent to the database, no userinputs are lost in this process.

The media guidance application may select a second time interval suchthat user input associated with the first time interval may be comparedwith user input associated with the second time period. Specifically,the media guidance application may select a second time interval, priorto the first time interval, by shifting the first start time and thefirst end time to determine a second start time and a second end timefor the second time interval. For example, the media guidanceapplication may shift the time period by one week, one day, or onemonth. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may shift thetime interval multiple times (e.g., two one-day shifts). In order toshift the time period, the media guidance application may retrieve(e.g., from storage 408 (FIG. 4)) a preconfigured shifting value. Themedia guidance application may also retrieve the value from mediacontent source 516 (FIG. 5) or from media guidance data source 518 (FIG.5.). In some embodiments, the shifting value may be configured by aservice provider (e.g., cable operator or set-top box owner).Additionally or alternatively, the shifting value may be configured byan entity that obtaining the engagement information. The media guidanceapplication may subtract the shifting value from the first start timeand the first end time to calculate the second start time and the secondend time, respectively. The media guidance application may store thesecond start time and the second end time locally (e.g., in storage 408(FIG. 4)) or remotely (e.g., at media content source 516 (FIG. 5) and/ormedia guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may shift the firststart time (e.g., by one week) and identify the media asset that theuser was consuming at that time. The media guidance application maydetermine the start time and the end time of that media asset and usethat start time and end time as the second start time and the second endtime for the second time interval. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve program listings for the time of day of thefirst start time, but a week ago. The media guidance application maydetermine, based on the first end time and the first start time asshifted by one week, a time period for retrieve user interactions. Basedon the user interactions, the media guidance application may identify,as described above, the media asset that the user has consumed thelongest during this time period. The media guidance application mayretrieve the program listing for that media asset and store the starttime of that media asset and the end time of that media asset as thesecond time interval.

The media guidance application may retrieve user interactions associatedwith the second time interval in order to perform the comparison.Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve a secondrecord of a second plurality of user inputs received during the secondtime interval, where the second record indicates an input type for eachof the second plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may have shifted the time interval by one week. Thus, thesecond time interval, in this example, is 8 PM to 10 PM on the same day,but a week before the first time interval. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve (e.g., from a database) user interactions thatoccurred during that second time interval. Those user interactions mayinclude an input type of each input received between 8 PM and 10 PM onthe same day but a week prior to the first time interval.

The media guidance application may generate (e.g., via control circuitry404 (FIG. 4)) a query to a database that holds time-stamped user inputentries together with accompanying information. For example, each entrymay include information on the type of user input, the time, as well asinformation based on the type of entry. For example, if the entry is achannel change, the information may include a source (e.g., a sourcechannel) and a target (e.g., a target channel). The media guidanceapplication may receive from the database one or more data structureseach corresponding to a user input during the second time interval. Eachdata structure may include the information from a corresponding databaseentry.

It should be noted that both the first time interval and the second timeinterval may be past time intervals. Therefore, user engagement may bedetermined for any time interval that has user inputs stored in thedatabase. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve userinput for a specific time interval a week ago, and compare that userinput (as described below) to another time interval (e.g., a timeinterval two weeks ago) as long as both intervals have associated userinput information in the database.

The media guidance application may analyze the first record to determinethe type of input that was received from the user during the first timeinterval and how often input of different input types was received.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval. For example, during the first timeinterval the user may have changed the channel four times, switched theset-top box off once, and turned it back on once. The user may also havedecreased the volume by fifteen percent and then also increased thevolume by ten percent.

The media guidance application may iterate (e.g., via control circuitry404 (FIG. 4)) through each input in the first plurality of inputs or,more specifically, through each data structure associated with eachinput and identify a type associated with each input. The media guidanceapplication may, during each iteration, access (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) data structure 100 (FIG. 1). The media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4))whether a type associated with the user input being iterated through hasalready been added to data structure 100 (FIG. 1). For example, themedia guidance application may iterate through each type field (e.g.,type field 102 and type field 104, and other type fields in datastructure 100 (FIG. 1) and determine whether the type of the currentlyiterated through input is present.

If the media guidance application determines that the type is alreadypresent, the media guidance application increment the frequency field(e.g., field 106 or field 108 (FIG. 1)) associated with the determinedtype. However, if the determined type is not present in data structure100 (FIG. 1), the media guidance application may add another type fieldto the structure. For example, if only type field 102 is present, themedia guidance application may add type field 104 and also increment thecounter from zero to one to indicate the frequency of the newly addedtype. In some embodiments, data structure 100 may be stored remotely(e.g., at media content source 516 (FIG. 5) and/or media guidance datasource 518 (FIG. 5)), and the media guidance application may access thedata structure via communications network 514 (FIG. 5).

The media guidance application may analyze the second record todetermine the type of input that was received from the user during thesecond time interval and how often input of different input types wasreceived from the user. Specifically, the media guidance application maydetermine a second frequency of each input type of the second pluralityof user inputs during the second time interval. The media guidanceapplication may determine the second frequency in the same manner as themedia guidance application determines the first frequency by using thedata in the second plurality of user inputs. The media guidanceapplication may use data structure 150 (FIG. 1) to store the input typesand frequencies for the second plurality of user inputs. Different inputtypes may be stored in type fields (e.g., type 1 field 152 and type 2field 154 (FIG. 1)). A corresponding frequency for the second pluralityof user inputs may be stored in frequency 1 field 156 (FIG. 1) andfrequency 2 field 158 (FIG. 1). The media guidance application may storeand update the type and frequency fields of data structure 150 in thesame manner as described in relation to data structure 100 (FIG. 1).

The media guidance application may store the first plurality of userinputs and the second plurality of user inputs, including the first andsecond frequencies, as metrics. As described herein, the term “metric”refers to data associated with a plurality of user inputs that describesuser interactions with media during a specific time interval. Forexample, a metric may include, for each user input, an input type, atime associated with the user input. A metric may include otherinformation depending on the type of user input. For example, a sourcechange command may include a start source and end source. A power on/offcommand may include the status of the user equipment after command isexecuted. In some embodiments, each metric may also include, for eachuser input, a source of the user input command (e.g., remote control,remote device, and other suitable input device). Specifically, the mediaguidance application may generate a first metric that describes thefirst frequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval. The media guidance application may alsogenerate a second metric that describes the second frequency of eachinput type of the second plurality of user inputs during the second timeinterval. For example, the media guidance application may create datastructures corresponding to the first plurality of user inputs and thesecond plurality of user inputs in order to store the informationcorresponding to the first metric and the second metric, respectively.Those data structure may include data structure 100 and data structure150. Additionally or alternatively, each metric may include datastructures for each input (i.e., those data structures that includeother information related to the user input such as type, source channeland target channel for channel changes, power status for power on andoff commands, and other suitable information). In some embodiments, eachmetric may include a pointer to the proper data structure(s).

The media guidance application may determine media assets that the userwas consuming during the first and second time intervals, respectively.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a first mediaasset consumed during the first time interval and a second media assetconsumed during the second time interval. For example, the mediaguidance application may identify all media assets that the user wasconsuming during the first and second time intervals, respectively. Themedia guidance application may determine which media asset the userspent the largest amount of time consuming during the first timeinterval and the second time interval, respectively. The media guidanceapplication may set the media asset that the user spent the largestamount of time consuming during the first time interval as the firstmedia asset and also set the media asset that the user spent the largestamount of time consuming during the second time interval as the secondmedia asset.

In order to determine which media asset the user spent the largestamount of time consuming, the media guidance application may take thefollowing actions. The media guidance application may retrieve (e.g.,via control circuitry 404) a content source identifier (e.g., a channelidentifier) that the user's equipment (e.g., a set-top box) was tuned toat the start of a time interval in question (e.g., the first timeinterval or the second time interval). The media guidance applicationmay then identify (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) all contentsource change inputs (e.g., change channel commands) received from theuser and retrieve information associated with those inputs (e.g., sourcechannel and target channel). The media guidance application may sort(e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) that information inchronological order. The media guidance application may iterate (e.g.,via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) through each source change input(e.g., channel change command) and store (e.g., in storage 408) anamount of time that the user spent consuming the source channel. Themedia guidance application may also store the target channel and move onto the next source change command. The media guidance application mayrepeat the process until all source change commands are processed. Themedia guidance application may select the source (e.g., channel) thatthe user spent most time consuming and identify the media asset that wasbeing played from that source during the time interval. The mediaguidance application may make the identification by accessing medialistings associated with the source and identifying the media asset thatwas being presented from that source.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine (e.g.,via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) that two media assets were beingpresented from the source during the time interval. The media guidanceapplication may determine how long the user consumed each media assetbased on the time intervals that the user was consuming content from thesource. The media guidance application may select the media asset withthe highest consumption time.

The media guidance application may link the first media asset with thefirst metric and the second media asset with the second metric and,based on the information in the first and second metrics, determine theuser's level of engagement with respect to the first media asset.Specifically, the media guidance application may tag the first mediaasset with the first metric and the second media asset with the secondmetric, and determine the level of user engagement for the first mediaasset based on the tagging. For example, the media guidance applicationmay store the first metric in a data structure (e.g., data structure 100(FIG. 1)) and also store the second metric in a data structure (e.g.,data structure 150 (FIG. 1)). The media guidance application may storethe data structures in storage 408 (FIG. 4). The media guidanceapplication may tag the first media asset with the first metric bystoring a link with the metadata associated with the first media assetthat links the first media asset to the data structure associated withthe first metric.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store the datastructure remotely (e.g., at media content source 516 (FIG. 5) and/ormedia guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)). In these embodiments, the linkmay be a link to a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 (FIG.5) and/or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)) storing the datastructure. Additionally or alternatively, the data structure may bestored in a database on those remote servers, and the link may include adatabase query for the information within the respective data structure.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aninput type associated with each user input by taking the followingactions. The media guidance application may receive, from a user, thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each user input in the firstplurality of user inputs comprises an identification code. For example,the media guidance application may receive each user input via userinput interface 410 (FIG. 4). The media guidance application may receivethe user input from an infrared remote control, a touch-sensing screen,or another suitable input device. Each input may include anidentification code that identifies the input and also corresponds to aninput type.

The identification code may be used to identify the type of action ortype of user input. The media guidance application may transmit, to adatabase, a plurality of queries requesting an input type for each inputin the first plurality of user inputs, where each query in the pluralityof queries includes a respective identification code for each input inthe first plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may be configured to access a database that stores differentuser input identification codes and associated user input information.Each user input may be stored as an entry in a database table. The entrymay include information such as a type associated with the user input,the identification code and other suitable information. The mediaguidance application may generate (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG.4)) a database query for the entry information for a specificidentification code. The media guidance application may transmit (e.g.,via I/O Path 402 FIG. 4)) the query to the database. The informationreturned from the database may include an input type associated with theidentification code. It should be noted that the database can reside instorage 408 on the same device as the media guidance application or mayreside at a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media contentsource 516 (FIG. 5)) and may be accessed through communications network514 (FIG. 5).

The media guidance application may receive, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs. For example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via I/O Path 402 (FIG. 4)) a database entry for each user input. Thedatabase entry may include the input type associated with the input. Themedia guidance application may store (e.g., in storage 408 (FIG. 4)) thedatabase entry as a data structure and access the data structure toretrieve the input type associated with the specific user input.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may iterate througheach input in order to determine the associated input type and, based onthe associated input type, calculate a frequency of each input type.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may identify (e.g., via control circuitry 404(FIG. 4)), for the first plurality of user inputs, a plurality ofdifferent input types, and iterate, for each input type in the pluralityof different input types, through the first plurality of user inputs. Asthe media guidance application iterates through each input type, themedia guidance application may update a respective frequency count foreach input type in the plurality of different input types when an inputof the first plurality of user inputs matches a respective input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may use datastructure 100 (FIG. 1) in this process. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may receive each input in the first plurality of inputs as adata structure, (e.g., a data structure described above that includesfields for identification code, input type, and other suitable fields).The media guidance application may store these data structures instorage 408 (FIG. 4), and access each data structure to retrieve theinput type associated with the data structure. The media guidanceapplication may also instantiate a second data structure (e.g., datastructure 100 (FIG. 1)). It should be noted that, when data structure100 (FIG. 1) is instantiated, no fields exist as these fields arecreated and added via the following actions. As the media guidanceapplication accesses a data structure for each input, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the input type associated with the datastructure. The media guidance application may compare the input typewith input types that have been added to data structure 100 (FIG. 1). Ifthe comparison matches an input type that already exists within datastructure 100, the corresponding frequency is incremented. If the inputtype doesn't exist within data structure 100, a new field is added forthe input type and the frequency field is set to one.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize a datastructure that is able to store the different input types and afrequency for each different input type as a vector. As referred toherein, the term “vector” refers to a quantity with more than oneelement. Specifically, the media guidance application may, whengenerating the first metric that describes the first frequency of eachinput type of the first plurality of user inputs during the first timeinterval, generate a vector with a data structure that includes aplurality of different input types and a corresponding frequency of userinputs for each input type of the plurality of different input types.For example, when the media guidance application finishes storing typeand frequency data in data structure 100, the media guidance applicationmay create a vector structure from the data.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine themedia asset that the user was consuming during a time interval (e.g.,the first time interval or the second time interval) by taking thefollowing actions. The media guidance application may, when determiningthe first media asset consumed during the first time interval, identify,based on the first record, one or more media assets that a user consumedduring the first interval, determine, based on the first record,respective amounts of time that the user spent consuming each of the oneor more media assets, and determine the first media asset based on therespective amounts of time.

Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 404) a content source identifier (e.g., a channelidentifier) that the user's equipment (e.g., a set-top box) was tuned toat the start of a time interval in question (e.g., the first timeinterval or the second time interval). The media guidance applicationmay then identify (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) all contentsource change inputs (e.g., change channel commands) received from theuser and retrieve information associated with those inputs (e.g., sourcechannel and target channel). The media guidance application may sort(e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) that information inchronological order. The media guidance application may iterate (e.g.,via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) through each source change input(e.g., channel change command) and store (e.g., in storage 408) anamount of time that the user spent consuming the source channel. Themedia guidance application may also store the target channel and move onto the next source change command. The media guidance application mayrepeat the process until all source change commands are processed. Themedia guidance application may select the source (e.g., channel) thatthe user spent most time consuming and identify the media asset that wasbeing played from that source during the time interval. The mediaguidance application may make the identification by accessing medialistings associated with the source and identifying the media asset thatwas being presented from that source.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize multipletime intervals for comparison. For example, the media guidanceapplication may calculate, in a manner similar to that described above,metrics for other time periods and create an average metric (i.e., abaseline) of user engagement for the specific user. Specifically, themedia guidance application may generate a shifting time by applying amultiplier to the first start time, determine a third time interval byshifting the first start time and the first end time by the shiftingtime, and update the second metric with a third plurality of user inputsreceived during the third time interval. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may average the second metric over the two timeintervals (i.e., divide every frequency associated with each input typeby a factor of two). It should be noted that this process may beperformed for multiple time intervals to create a baseline over aspecific length of time.

For example, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., fromstorage 408 (FIG. 4) media content source 516 (FIG. 5), or mediaguidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)) the time by which the start time isshifted). For example, the equal amount of time may be seven days. Themedia guidance application may also retrieve (e.g., from storage 408(FIG. 4), media content source 516 (FIG. 5), or media guidance datasource 518 (FIG. 5)) a multiplier (e.g., the number two) and multiplythe time by which the start time is shifted by the multiplier todetermine the third time interval (e.g., the same two-hour time slot twoweeks in the past). The media guidance application may integrate theuser inputs from the third time interval into the second plurality ofuser inputs (e.g., calculate an average of each input type).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may tag the mediaassets by generating a data structure for each vector and linking thatdata structure to the media asset (e.g., by a pointer). Specifically,the media guidance application may, when tagging the first media assetwith the first metric, generate a data structure for storing the firstmetric, where the data structure includes a first field for each inputtype associated with the first metric and a second field for a frequencycorresponding to a respective input type that is associated with thefirst metric, and store with metadata associated with the first mediaasset a link to the data structure. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a data structure (e.g., an array or a similarlysuited data structure) that includes a field for each input type and afield for each frequency (e.g., channel change field that has a value offour). That data structure may be linked to the media asset by a link ora pointer that is stored within the metadata associated with the mediaasset. The media guidance application may utilize data structures 100(FIG. 1) to store the first and program listing information to store thelink to the data structure.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine theuser's level of engagement based on a percent difference between userinteractions during the first time interval and the second timeinterval. Specifically, the media guidance application may, whendetermining the level of user engagement for the media asset based onthe tagging, compare the first frequency of each input type in the firstplurality of user inputs with a corresponding second frequency of eachinput type in the second plurality of user inputs, and calculaterespective percent differences between the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs and a corresponding secondfrequency in the second plurality of user inputs. The media guidanceapplication may determine the level of user engagement for the firstmedia asset based on the respective percent differences.

For example, the media guidance application may iterate (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 404) through each input type stored in data structure100 (FIG. 1) and compare the frequency associated with each input typewith a corresponding frequency associated with a corresponding inputtype stored in data structure 150 (FIG. 1). The media guidanceapplication may calculate a percent difference between the correspondingfrequencies and determine user engagement based on those percentdifferences. For example, the media guidance application may calculatean average of the percent differences and determine that user engagementfor the first time interval is either higher or lower by the specificpercent difference (e.g., user engagement is higher by twenty percent).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare inputsof a user with average inputs of other users that are similar to theuser. Specifically, the first plurality of user inputs may includeinputs generated by a first user and the second plurality of user inputsmay include inputs generated by a plurality of users that are similar tothe first user. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine similarity of users based on users' demographics (e.g., age,gender, and other suitable demographics). In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine similarity of users based on user'sviewing preference (e.g., preferences in a user's media assetconsumption profile). Those preferences may include preferences formovie genres, music genres, and other suitable preferences). In yet someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine similaritybetween users based on the users' social media connections (e.g.,friends on a social network).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine userengagement based on user interactions during a specific advertisementslot. The media guidance application may at least partially reside on aserver or multiple servers (e.g., a server located at media contentsource 516 (FIG. 5) or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)). In someembodiments, portions of the media guidance application may be locatedon user equipment (e.g., user television equipment 502 (FIG. 5), usercomputer equipment 504 (FIG. 5), and wireless user communications device506 (FIG. 5)). Some portions of the media guidance application (e.g.,portions that do not reside on user equipment) may be able to accessuser input data located on some or all user equipment devices.Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via a push mechanism) from user equipment devices userinput data. The media guidance application may use that user input datato determine user engagement with certain advertisement slots.

Specifically, the media guidance application may select a firstadvertisement slot and generate a record of user inputs, including inputtypes, during that advertisement slot. The media guidance applicationmay select a second advertisement slot for comparison such that thesecond advertisement slot overlaps with the first advertisement slot(i.e., where at least one of a start time and an end time of the secondadvertisement slot is between the start time and the end time of thefirst advertisement slot). The media guidance application may retrieve arecord of user inputs for the second advertisement slot. The mediaguidance application may determine a first frequency for each input typeand a second frequency for each input type for user input during thefirst advertisement slot and a second advertisement slot, respectively,and generate a first metric and a second metric for respective first andsecond advertisement slots. The media guidance application may determineuser engagement for the first advertisement slot based on the firstmetric (i.e., user input during the first advertisement slot).

The media guidance application may, when determining user engagementbased on user interactions during a specific advertisement slot, selecta first advertisement slot, where the first advertisement slot has afirst start time and a first end time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine user engagement for a specific advertisementslot with a specific start time and end time (e.g., between 5:30 PM and5:33 PM). The media guidance application may select the advertisementslot based on user input. Additionally or alternatively, theadvertisement slot selection may be pre-programmed (e.g., for a specifictime, a set of specific times, or based on other suitable criteria).

The media guidance application may generate a record of user input,including input type, from specific users (e.g., for a specificdemographic, a specific set of users, or based on another suitablecriteria) during the first advertisement slot. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may retrieve a first record of a first plurality ofuser inputs from a first plurality of users received during the firstadvertisement slot, where the first record indicates an input type foreach of the first plurality of user inputs. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve the first record in a similar manneras generating the first record for a first time interval, as describedabove. However, in this case the start time and the end time correspondto the start time of the first advertisement slot and the end time ofthe first advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may select a second advertisement slotthat overlaps the first advertisement slot. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may select a second advertisement slot, where thesecond advertisement slot has a second start time and a second end time,and where at least one of the second start time and the second end timefalls between the first start time and the first end time. For example,the media guidance application may scan (e.g., via control circuitry 404(FIG. 4)) all channels broadcast to a plurality of users and identify anadvertisement slot that overlaps the first advertisement slot. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access a database thatincludes time information for all advertisement slots and determinewhich advertisement slots overlap with the first advertisement slot.

If the media guidance application identifies several advertisement slotsthat overlap the first advertisement slot, the media guidanceapplication may utilize different algorithms to select one of thoseadvertisement slots. For example, the media guidance application mayexecute (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a randomizingalgorithm to select one of the overlapping advertisement slots. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may select the secondadvertisement slot based on similarity of advertisements within theslot.

For example, the media guidance application may query (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a database for a product or products that arebeing advertised in the first advertisement slot. The media guidanceapplication may identify a type of product that is being advertised(e.g., a car, a watch, a tablet, a TV, or another suitable type), andcompare that type with the respective products advertised in theoverlapping advertisement slots. The media guidance application mayselect as the second advertisement slot an advertisement slot that has aproduct with a matching type to a product in the first advertisementslot. The media guidance application may take similar actions; however,instead of comparing product types, the media guidance application maycompare source types (e.g., whether both sources are sports channels,news channels, or other suitable source comparisons). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may select the secondadvertisement slot based on media asset similarity. For example, if boththe first advertisement slot and the potential second advertisement slotare inserted during action movies, the media guidance application mayselect the potential second advertisement slot as the secondadvertisement slot.

The media guidance application may retrieve user input, including inputtype, from specific users during the second advertisement slot.Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a second record of a second plurality ofuser inputs from a second plurality of users received during the secondadvertisement slot, where the second record indicates an input type foreach of the second plurality of user inputs. For example, the mediaguidance application may access (e.g., from a server at media contentsource 516 (FIG. 5) or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)) userprofiles associated with a plurality of users. Those profiles may resideat a server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516(FIG. 5) or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)) and/or userequipment (e.g, user equipment 502, 504, and/or 506 (FIG. 5)). In someembodiments, the user profiles may be stored on user equipment andreplicated to a server. They may be periodically updated. The mediaguidance application may retrieve from those user profiles demographicdata associated with the users. The media guidance application mayretrieve user input for the same demographic of users (e.g., mentwenty-five to thirty-five years old).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select thoseusers, for the second plurality of users, whose set-top boxes have beentuned to the channel associated with the second advertisement slot. Themedia guidance application may access (e.g., via control circuitry 404(FIG. 4)) a database that stores user inputs for a plurality of users.For each user, the media guidance application may identify a sourcechange command (e.g., a channel change command and identify the targetsource (e.g., a channel to which the user switched). The media guidanceapplication may use that information to identify users for the secondplurality of users.

The media guidance application may identify an input type for each userinput during the first advertisement slot and correlate how many inputsof each type were received. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay determine a first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first advertisement slot. Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., from adatabase) user inputs of each user in the first plurality of users. Themedia guidance application may iterate (e.g., via control circuitry 404(FIG. 4)) through each user input and identify the type of user input.The media guidance application may identify the type of user input in amanner similar to identifying the type of user input during the firstand second time intervals as described above. However, the time intervalin this instance is the duration of the first advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may identify an input type for each userinput during the second advertisement slot and correlate how many inputsof each type were received. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay determine (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a secondfrequency of each input type of the second plurality of user inputsduring the second advertisement slot. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve (e.g., from a database) user inputs of eachuser in the second plurality of users. The media guidance applicationmay iterate (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) through each userinput and identify the type of user input. The media guidanceapplication may identify the type of user input in a manner similar toidentifying the type of user input during the first and second timeintervals as described above. However, the time interval in thisinstance is the duration of the second advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may store the user input for the firstadvertisement slot correlated with input type as a first metric.Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a first metricthat describes the first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first advertisement slot. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate a data structure(e.g., data structure 100 (FIG. 1)) with two fields, input type (e.g.,fields 102 and 104 (FIG. 1) and frequency (e.g., field 106 (FIG. 1) andfield 108 (FIG. 1)), for each input type to hold the information for thefirst advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may store the user input for the secondadvertisement slot correlated with input type as a second metric.Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a secondmetric that describes the second frequency of each input type of thesecond plurality of user inputs during the second advertisement slot.For example, the media guidance application may generate a datastructure (e.g., data structure 150 FIG. 1)) with two fields, input type(e.g., fields 152 (FIG. 1) and 154 (FIG. 1)) and frequency (e.g., fields156 (FIG. 1) and 158 (FIG. 1)), for each input type to hold theinformation for the second advertisement slot.

The media guidance application may link the first and second metricswith their corresponding advertisement slots. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may assign to the first advertisement slot thefirst metric and to the second advertisement slot the second metric. Forexample, the media guidance application may store a pointer in themetadata of the first advertisement slot that points to the firstmetric, and may also store a pointer in the metadata of the secondadvertisement slot that points to the second metric. Additionally oralternatively, the media guidance application may store the pointer inthe metadata associated with the first metric and the second metric thatpoints to the first advertisement slot and the second advertisementslot, respectively. Specifically, the media guidance application may addanother field (not shown) to data structure 100 (FIG. 1) and also todata structure 150 that is able to store a pointer or a link to theappropriate advertisement slot. The pointer or a link may be a specificidentification for the advertisement slot. The identification may bestored in the database together with various pieces of information forthe advertisement slot may be stored in the database (e.g., start time,end time, products advertised, and other suitable information).

The media guidance application may determine a level of user engagementfor the first advertisement slot by comparing the assigned metrics.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a level ofuser engagement for the first advertisement slot based on the firstmetric and the second metric.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aninput type associated with each user input by taking the followingactions. The media guidance application may receive, from a user, thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each user input in the firstplurality of user inputs comprises an identification code. For example,if the user input is received from a remote control, each input may beassociated with a specific code that instructs the user device (e.g., aset-top box) to take a specific action (e.g., change channel, power off,or another suitable action).

The identification code may be used to identify the type of action ortype of user input. The media guidance application may transmit, to adatabase, a plurality of queries requesting an input type for each inputin the first plurality of user inputs, where each query in the pluralityof queries includes a respective identification code for each input inthe first plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may be configured to access a database that stores differentuser input identification codes and associated user input information.Each user input may be stored as an entry in a database table. The entrymay include information such as a type associated with the user input,the identification code and other suitable information. The mediaguidance application may generate (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG.4)) a database query for the entry information for a specificidentification code. The media guidance application may transmit (e.g.,via I/O Path 402 FIG. 4)) the query to the database. The informationreturned from the database may include an input type associated with theidentification code. It should be noted that the database can reside instorage 408 on the same device as the media guidance application or mayreside at a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media contentsource 516 (FIG. 5)) and may be accessed through communications network514 (FIG. 5).

The media guidance application may receive, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs. For example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via I/O Path 402 (FIG. 4)) a database entry for each user input. Thedatabase entry may include the input type associated with the input. Themedia guidance application may store (e.g., in storage 408 (FIG. 4)) thedatabase entry as a data structure and access the data structure toretrieve the input type associated with the specific user input.

This code may be used to identify the type of action or type of userinput. The media guidance application may transmit, to a database, aplurality of queries requesting an input type for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs, where each query in the plurality ofqueries includes a respective identification code for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs. For example, the media guidanceapplication may be able to access a database that stores different userinput identification codes and associated user inputs. The mediaguidance application may query the database using a specific code inorder to determine the type of user input that was received.

The media guidance application may receive, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs. For example, if the media guidance application transmits to thedatabase a code corresponding to a channel change input, the mediaguidance application may receive back a type associated with the command(e.g., channel change). The database may perform a look-up of the codeand find the associated input type. The media guidance application maystore the received data. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay store, for each input in the first plurality of user inputs, anassociated input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may iterate througheach input in order to determine the associated input type and, based onthe associated input type, calculate a frequency of each input type.Specifically, the media guidance application may determine the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may identify, for the first plurality of userinputs, a plurality of different input types, and iterate, for eachinput type in the plurality of different input types, through the firstplurality of user inputs. As the media guidance application iteratesthrough each input type, the media guidance application may update arespective frequency count for each input type in the plurality ofdifferent input types when an input of the first plurality of userinputs matches a respective input type.

The media guidance application may receive each input in the firstplurality of inputs as a data structure, (e.g., a data structuredescribed above that includes fields for identification code, inputtype, and other suitable fields). The media guidance application maystore these data structures in storage 408 (FIG. 4), and access eachdata structure to retrieve the input type associated with the datastructure. The media guidance application may also instantiate a seconddata structure (e.g., data structure 100 (FIG. 1)). It should be notedthat, when data structure 100 (FIG. 1) is instantiated, no fields exist,as these fields are created and added via the following actions. As themedia guidance application accesses a data structure for each input, themedia guidance application may retrieve the input type associated withthe data structure. The media guidance application may compare the inputtype with input types that have been added to data structure 100 (FIG.1). If the comparison matches an input type that already exists withindata structure 100, the corresponding frequency is incremented. If theinput type doesn't exist within data structure 100, a new field is addedfor the input type and the frequency field is set to one.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that the firstplurality of inputs includes a channel change to a different channel, apower off command, and a volume increase command. As a result, the mediaguidance application may identify three input types: channel change,power off, and volume change. The media guidance application maydetermine a frequency for each input type.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize a datastructure that is able to store the different input types and afrequency for each different input type as a vector. Specifically, themedia guidance application may, when generating the first metric thatdescribes the first frequency of each input type of the first pluralityof user inputs during the first time interval, generate a vector with adata structure that includes a plurality of different input types and acorresponding frequency of user inputs for each input type of theplurality of different input types. For example, the media guidanceapplication may initialize a data structure that contains all user inputtypes that have been received during the first advertisement slot and,for each user input type, include a field for the frequency of eachinput type. In some embodiments, other fields may be added to the datastructure (e.g., a time field that includes a time for each user inputin each user input type). Other fields may include start and end channelfor channel changes, starting volume and ending volume for volumechanges, and other suitable fields.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may furtherdetermine users' engagement level with an advertisement slot bydetecting whether specific users are disregarding the media contentassociated with the corresponding advertisement slot. Specifically, themedia guidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry404 (FIG. 4)) that one or more users of the first plurality of users aredisregarding media content during the first advertisement slot, and inresponse to the determining, update the first metric with an amount oftime that the one or more users have been disregarding the mediacontent. For example, the media guidance application may utilize acamera connected to user equipment (e.g., user equipment 502, 504, or506 (FIG. 5)) to determine whether a specific user is looking at themedia content being presented or whether the specific user is lookingaway. The media guidance application may be configured with facerecognition software that can recognize users' facial features anddetermine which direction the users' eyes are looking. If a specificuser is looking away, the media guidance application may store (e.g., instorage 408 (FIG. 4)) a start time of when the specific user startedlooking away and an end time corresponding to a time of when thespecific user turned back to view the media asset. The media guidanceapplication may update the corresponding metric (e.g., data structure100 (FIG. 1)) associated with the advertisement slot to include the timeperiod between the start time and the end time. The media guidanceapplication may add a new field (not shown) to the data structure tostore the information.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select thesecond advertisement slot based on the similarity of products advertisedin the first advertisement slot and a plurality of potential secondadvertisement slots. Specifically, the media guidance application mayidentify a plurality of advertisement slots, where at least one of thesecond start time and the second end time falls between the first starttime and the first end time. The media guidance application maydetermine a respective product category associated with eachadvertisement slot of the plurality of advertisement slots and compare aproduct category associated with the first advertisement slot with therespective product category associated with each advertisement slot ofthe plurality of advertisement slots. The media guidance application mayselect the second advertisement slot based on the comparing.

For example, the media guidance application may query (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a database for a product or products that arebeing advertised in the first advertisement slot. The media guidanceapplication may identify a product category that is being advertised(e.g., a car, a watch, a tablet, a TV, or another suitable type), andcompare that product category with the respective products advertised inthe overlapping advertisement slots. The media guidance application mayselect as the second advertisement slot an advertisement slot that has aproduct with a matching product category to a product in the firstadvertisement slot.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate aspecific data structure for each metric. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may, when assigning to the first advertisement slotthe first metric and to the second advertisement slot the second metric,generate a data structure for storing the first metric, where the datastructure includes a first field for each input type associated with thefirst metric and a second field for a frequency corresponding to arespective input type that is associated with the first metric, andstore with metadata associated with the first advertisement slot a linkto the data structure. For example, the media guidance application maycreate a multi-dimensional array or another suitable data structure tostore the first metrics. For example, data structure 100 or datastructure 150 may be generated as a result of these steps.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine alevel of user engagement for the first advertisement slot based on thefirst metric and the second metric by taking the following actions. Themedia guidance application may compare the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs with a corresponding secondfrequency of each input type in the second plurality of user inputs;calculate respective percent differences between the first frequency ofeach input type in the first plurality of user inputs and acorresponding second frequency in the second plurality of user inputs;and determine the level of user engagement for the first advertisementslot based on the respective percent differences.

For example, the media guidance application may iterate (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 404) through each input type stored in data structure100 (FIG. 1) and compare the frequency associated with each input typewith a corresponding frequency associated with a corresponding inputtype stored in data structure 150 (FIG. 1). The media guidanceapplication may calculate a percent difference between the correspondingfrequencies and determine user engagement based on those percentdifferences. For example, the media guidance application may calculatean average of the percent differences and determine that user engagementfor the first time interval is either higher or lower by the specificpercent difference (e.g., user engagement is higher by twenty percent).

It should be noted that examples described herein compare the user inputfor the first advertisement slot with one other advertisement slot.However, in some embodiments, the media guidance application may compareuser input for the first advertisement slot with average inputs for aplurality of advertisement slots. The average may be weighted based onfactors such as similarity of products.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select similarusers for the first plurality and the second plurality. Specifically,the media guidance application may select the first plurality of usersand the second plurality of users such that those users share a commoncharacteristic. For example, the media guidance application may selectusers that like action movies based on the respective profilesassociated with those users. For example, the media guidance applicationmay transmit a query to each user profile requesting information on eachuser's media asset consumption history. Based on the consumptionhistory, the media guidance application may determine users' preferencesfor media assets. The media guidance application may select only usersthat prefer action movies for the first plurality of users.

The media guidance application may also select users based on theirdemographics (e.g., men between the ages of twenty-five andthirty-five). In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayselect users that share multiple characteristics (e.g., demographics andmedia asset preferences).

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5.User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400.Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

System 500 may also include an advertisement source 524 coupled tocommunications network 514 via a communications path 526. Path 526 mayinclude any of the communication paths described above in connectionwith paths 508, 510, and 512. Advertisement source 524 may includeadvertisement logic to determine which advertisements to transmit tospecific users and under which circumstances. For example, a cableoperator may have the right to insert advertisements during specifictime slots on specific channels. Thus, advertisement source 524 maytransmit advertisements to users during those time slots.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative process for determining a level of userengagement associated with a media asset. In some embodiments, process600 may be implemented on a server associated with advertisement source524. At 602, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a first time interval based on a first start time and afirst end time. The media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., fromstorage 408, media content source 516, or media guidance data source518) a program listing for a specific movie and parse the data of theprogram listing to select a time interval based on a start time and anend time associated with the program listing. The media guidanceapplication may make a selection in a manner similar to one described inrelation to FIG. 1.

At 604, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a first record of a first plurality of user inputsreceived during the first time interval, where the first recordindicates an input type for each of the first plurality of user inputs.The media guidance application may retrieve the first record from dataon a user equipment device (e.g., user television equipment 502, usercomputer equipment 504, or wireless user communications device 506). Themedia guidance application may retrieve the first record in a mannersimilar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 606, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a second time interval, prior to the first time interval,by shifting the first start time and the first end time to determine asecond start time and a second end time for the second time interval.The media guidance application may select the second time interval in amanner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 608, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a second record of a second plurality of user inputsreceived during the second time interval, where the second recordindicates an input type for each of the second plurality of user inputs.The media guidance application may retrieve the second record in amanner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 610, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first time interval. The mediaguidance application may determine the first frequency of each inputtype in a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 612, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a second frequency of each input type of the secondplurality of user inputs during the second time interval. The mediaguidance application may determine the second frequency of each inputtype in a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 614, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a first metric that describes the first frequency of eachinput type of the first plurality of user inputs during the first timeinterval. The first metric may correspond to data structure 100 (FIG.1). The media guidance application may generate the first metric in amanner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 616, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a second metric that describes the second frequency ofeach input type of the second plurality of user inputs during the secondtime interval. The second metric may correspond to data structure 150(FIG. 1). The media guidance application may generate the second metricin a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 618, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) a first media asset consumed during the first timeinterval and a second media asset consumed during the second timeinterval. The media guidance application may determine the first mediaasset in a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 620, the media guidance application tags (e.g., via control circuitry404) the first media asset with the first metric and the second mediaasset with the second metric. The media guidance application may performthe tagging in a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 622, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404) the level of user engagement for the first media assetbased on the tagging. The media guidance application may determine thelevel of user engagement based on the tagging in a manner similar to onedescribed in relation to FIG. 1.

It is contemplated that the descriptions of FIG. 6 may be used with anyother embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the descriptionsdescribed in relation to the process of FIG. 6 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIG. 6may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configured softwareand hardware, and that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 2-5 could be used to implement one or more portions ofthe process. Moreover, steps of process 600 may be used in conjunctionwith any step of process 700, 800, 900, and 1000. Steps of process 600may be omitted or replaced with any step of process 700, 800, 900 and/or1000. For example, the media guidance application may determine a firstfrequency or the second frequency associated with each type of userinput, as described in relation to FIG. 6, by replacing some or all ofthe actions of 610 and/or 612 with actions described in relation toprocess 700 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative process involved in determining afrequency associated with each type of user input. At 702, the mediaguidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG.4)) the first time interval. The media guidance application may retrievethe first time interval from a program listings database. For example,the media guidance application may search the program listing databasefor a specific media asset for which user engagement is being measuredor an advertisement slot for which user engagement is being measured.The media guidance application may transmit a query to the database inorder to retrieve the proper program listing or advertisement slotlisting. The database may be located in storage 408 (FIG. 4) on a userequipment device (e.g., user equipment 502, 504, or 506 (FIG. 5)) or ata remote location (e.g., media content source 515 (FIG. 5) and/or mediaguidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)). The media guidance application mayreceive a response that includes a data structure containing metadataassociated with the media asset or the advertisement slot. The mediaguidance application may retrieve from the data structure (e.g., via anAPI) a start time and an end time designating the first time interval.

The media guidance application may iterate through every user inputreceived during the first time interval. Specifically, at 704, the mediaguidance application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 404) apreviously unselected input from a plurality of user inputs that isassociated with the first time interval. Each user input may be storedin a data structure that also includes associated information (e.g.,input type, time of input, and other suitable information). Each datastructure may be part of another data structure that enables the mediaguidance application to iterate through each user input (e.g., userinput data structure). Thus, the media guidance application may select apreviously unselected input.

At 706, the media guidance application identifies (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) an input type associated with the previouslyunselected input. The media guidance application may access the datastructure associated with the input that is being processed and retrievedata within the “input type” field.

At 708, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control 404(FIG. 4)) whether the identified input type is in a plurality ofdifferent input types. For example, as described above, the mediaguidance application may instantiate another data structure (e.g., datastructure 100). When the data structure is instantiated, it contains noinput types. However, as each input is processed, input types are addedto the data structure together with the frequency. It should be notedthat when a new input type is added to the data structure, frequency ofone is inserted into the frequency field associated with the input type.Thus, the media guidance application may compare each input type in thedata structure to the retrieved input type.

If the identified input type is not in the plurality of different inputtypes (e.g., in data structure 100 (FIG. 1), at 710, the media guidanceapplication updates (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) theplurality of different user input types with the identified input type.For example, the media guidance application may add another input typefield to data structure 100 and also may add a corresponding frequencyfield. The media guidance application may insert into the input typefield the name of the input type (or an identifier associated with theinput type) and a value of zero to the frequency field.

If the identified user input type is in the plurality of different inputtypes (e.g., in data structure 100) or after updating the plurality ofdifferent user input types, at 712, the media guidance applicationincrements (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a frequencyassociated with the identified input type. For example, if the inputtype was just added to the data structure, the media guidanceapplication may update the frequency field from zero to one. If theinput type was already in the data structure, the media guidanceapplication may increment the frequency by one.

At 714, the media guidance application determines if the processed inputtype (e.g., processed data structure) is the last one in the first timeinterval. If there are more previously unselected inputs in theplurality of inputs, process 700 moves to step 704 and processes thenext input. If there are no more previously unselected inputs in theplurality of inputs, process 700 moves to 716, where the media guidanceapplication stores (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) theplurality of different input types with corresponding frequencies. Forexample, the media guidance application may store data structure 100(FIG. 1) in storage 408 (FIG. 4) on a user equipment device (e.g.,device 502, 504, or 506 (FIG. 5)). Additionally or alternatively, themedia guidance application may store data structure 100 or a similardata structure on a remote server (e.g., a server associated with mediacontent source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518 (FIG. 5)).

It is contemplated that the descriptions of FIG. 7 may be used with anyother embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the descriptionsdescribed in relation to the process of FIG. 7 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIG. 7may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configured softwareand hardware, and that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 2-5 could be used to implement one or more portions ofthe process. Moreover, steps of process 700 may be used in conjunctionwith any step of process 600, 800, 900, and 1000. Steps of process 700may be omitted or replaced with any step of process 600, 800, 900 and/or1000.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative process involved in generating a vectorfor user input data. At 802, the media guidance application initializes(e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a vector and retrieves (e.g.,via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) the plurality of input types. Forexample, the media guidance application may initialize a data structureto store input types and corresponding frequencies. At 804, the mediaguidance application sets (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) apointer to a next input type of the plurality of different input types.It should be noted that when process 800 starts, the point at step 804is set to the first input type in the plurality of different inputtypes.

At 806, the media guidance application adds (e.g., via control circuitry404 (FIG. 4)) the input type and the associated frequency to the vector.For example, the media guidance application may add this information tothe data structure (e.g., through an API that formats the informationaccording to the vector format). At 808, the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) whether thepointer is at the last input type of the plurality of different inputtypes. If the pointer is not at the last input type, process 800 movesto 804, where the next input type is processed. If the point is at thelast input type, process 800 moves to 810. At 810, the media guidanceapplication stores (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) the vectorfor later use. The vector may be stored in storage on user equipment(e.g., in storage 408 (FIG. 4) on user equipment 502, 504, or 506 (FIG.5)). Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application maytransmit the vector to a remote server (e.g., a server associated withmedia content source 516 (FIG. 5) and/or media guidance data source 518(FIG. 5)).

It should be noted that the user interactions may be stored andtransmitted as vectors that are organized by input type for variousreasons. For example, storing user interaction information in thismanner enables the media guidance application to compare correspondinginformation in an efficient manner. In addition, the media guidanceapplication is able to compare the time period or advertisement slotthat is being analyzed for user engagement with multiple time periods oradvertisement slots. For example, multiple vectors for other timeperiods or advertisement slots may be retrieved and combined into onevector. Specifically, the media guidance application may combine thevectors by combining frequency values of identical input types in thetwo vectors and calculating an average or a weighted average of thevalues. For example, a frequency for a vector closer in time to thevector being analyzed for user engagement may be weighted higher.Furthermore, these vectors may be used to create a baseline ofinformation regarding user engagement by calculating an average for userinteractions for a time period. The time period or the advertisementslot vector may be efficiently compared with the baseline vector todetermine whether the user is more engaged with a specific time intervalor advertisement slot, as compared with the baseline, or less engaged,as compared with the baseline.

It is contemplated that the descriptions of FIG. 8 may be used with anyother embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the descriptionsdescribed in relation to the process of FIG. 8 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIG. 8may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configured softwareand hardware, and that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 2-5 could be used to implement one or more portions ofthe process. Moreover, steps of process 800 may be used in conjunctionwith any step of process 600, 700, 900, and 1000. Steps of process 800may be omitted or replaced with any step of process 600, 700, 900 and/or1000.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative process involved in identifying a contentsource that the user consumed for the greatest amount of time during atime period. At 902, the media guidance application identifies (e.g.,via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a content source from which a userwas consuming content at the start of the time period. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve user input associated with theuser starting at the start of the time period and ending with a changesource input type prior to the time period. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve the content source from the user input (e.g., adata structure associated with the user input that contains dataassociated with the user input).

At 904, the media guidance application stores (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) an identifier associated with the content sourceand a start time associated with the first time period. For example, themedia guidance application may store a channel number for a channel theuser was watching and the start time of the first time period. The mediaguidance application may store this information to indicate that at thestart of the time period the user was watching the specific channel.

At 906, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a previously unselected input from a pluralityof user inputs associated with the time period and according to achronological order. The media guidance application may retrieve (e.g.,from a database as described above) a plurality of data structuresassociated with user inputs received during the time period. The mediaguidance application may access each data structure and determine aninput type for each input. The media guidance application may sort theseinputs in chronological order and select the first input for processing.

At 908, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) whether the previously unselected inputindicates a switch to a different content source. If the media guidanceapplication determines that the previously unselected input does notindicate a switch to a different content source, process 900 moves to906, where the next user input is selected.

If the previously unselected input indicates a switch to a differentcontent source, process 900 moves to 910. At 910, the media guidanceapplication stores (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a timeassociated with the previously unselected input as the end timeassociated with the content source from which content was consumeddirectly before the switch. The media guidance application may storethis information in storage 408 (FIG. 4) or at a remote location (e.g.,media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518 (FIG.5)).

At 912, the media guidance application stores (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) an identifier associated with the differentcontent source and a time associated with the previously unselectedinput as the start time associated with the different content source.The media guidance application performs these actions to build a timetable of when the user started consuming content from each contentsource and when the user stopped consuming content from each contentsource.

At 914, the media guidance application determines where there are anymore inputs in the plurality of inputs. If there are more inputs in theplurality of inputs, process 900 moves to 906. If there are no moreinputs in the plurality of inputs, process 900 moves to 916. At 916, themedia guidance application adds (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG.4)) as the end time for the different content source the end time of thefirst time period. This entry indicates that the last content source hasan end time of the time period and completes the time table.

At 918, the media guidance application identifies (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)), based on the start times and end timesassociated with each content source, a content source that the userspent a greatest amount of time consuming. The media guidanceapplication may look at each start time and end time for each contentsource and create an entry for each content source and an amount of timethat the user spent consuming each content source. The content sourceassociated with a longest time is identified, and the media guidanceapplication selects that content source as a content source that theuser consumed for the greatest amount of time during a time period.

It is contemplated that the descriptions of FIG. 9 may be used with anyother embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the descriptionsdescribed in relation to the process of FIG. 9 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIG. 9may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configured softwareand hardware, and that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 2-5 could be used to implement one or more portions ofthe process. Moreover, steps of process 900 may be used in conjunctionwith any step of process 600, 700, 800, and 1000. Steps of process 900may be omitted or replaced with any step of process 600, 700, 800 and/or1000.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative process for determining a level of userengagement associated with an advertisement slot. It should be notedthat process 1000 may be implemented on a server associated withadvertisement source 524. At 1002, the media guidance applicationselects (e.g., via control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a first advertisementslot, where the first advertisement slot has a first start time and afirst end time. The media guidance application may receive an identifierof the first advertisement slot. The identifier may be received from anadvertiser or another entity which desires to determine a userengagement level associated with the advertisement slot. Furthermore,the media guidance application may select the first advertisement slotin a manner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 1004, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a first record of a first plurality of userinputs from a first plurality of users received during the firstadvertisement slot, where the first record indicates an input type foreach of the first plurality of user inputs. The media guidanceapplication may transmit (e.g., via control circuitry 404 through I/Opath 402 (FIG. 4)) a query to a database with an identifier of theadvertisement slot to retrieve data associated with the advertisementslot. For example, the media guidance application may receive from thedatabase the start time associated with the advertisement slot and theend time associated with the advertisement slot. Furthermore, the mediaguidance application may retrieve the first record in any manner similarto one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 1006, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a second advertisement slot, where the secondadvertisement slot has a second start time and a second end time, andwhere at least one of the second start time and the second end timefalls between the first start time and the first end time. For example,the media guidance application may scan (e.g., via control circuitry 404(FIG. 4)) all channels broadcast to a plurality of users and identify anadvertisement slot that overlaps the first advertisement slot. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may access a database thatincludes time information for all advertisement slots and determinewhich advertisement slots overlap with the first advertisement slot.Specifically, the media guidance application may transmit a query to thedatabase to retrieve all advertisement slots where the start time or theend time of the potential second advertisement slot is between the starttime and the end time of the first advertisement slot. Furthermore, themedia guidance application may select the second advertisement slot in amanner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 1008, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a second record of a second plurality of userinputs from a second plurality of users received during the secondadvertisement slot, where the second record indicates an input type foreach of the second plurality of user inputs. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve the second record in the same manner as itretrieves the first plurality of user inputs and also in a mannersimilar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 1010, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a first frequency of each input type of thefirst plurality of user inputs during the first advertisement slot. Themedia guidance application may determine the first frequency in a mannerdescribed in FIG. 7. Furthermore, the media guidance application maydetermine the first frequency in a manner similar to one described inrelation to FIG. 1.

At 1012, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a second frequency of each input type of thesecond plurality of user inputs during the second advertisement slot.The media guidance application may determine the second frequency in amanner described in FIG. 7. Furthermore, the media guidance applicationmay determine the second frequency in a manner similar to one describedin relation to FIG. 1.

At 1014, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a first metric that describes the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first advertisement slot. The media guidance application maygenerate the first metric in a manner similar to one described inrelation to FIG. 1.

At 1016, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a second metric that describes the secondfrequency of each input type of the second plurality of user inputsduring the second advertisement slot. The media guidance application maygenerate the second metric in a manner similar to one described inrelation to FIG. 1.

At 1018, the media guidance application assigns (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) to the first advertisement slot the first metricand to the second advertisement slot the second metric. The mediaguidance application may assign to the first advertisement slot thefirst metric and to the second advertisement slot the second metric in amanner similar to one described in relation to FIG. 1.

At 1020, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4)) a level of user engagement for the firstadvertisement slot based on the first metric. The media guidanceapplication may determine the level of user engagement for the firstadvertisement slot in a manner similar to one described in relation toFIG. 1.

It is contemplated that the descriptions of FIG. 10 may be used with anyother embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the descriptionsdescribed in relation to the process of FIG. 10 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIG. 10may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configured softwareand hardware, and that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 2-5 could be used to implement one or more portions ofthe process. Moreover, steps of process 1000 may be used in conjunctionwith any step of process 600, 700, 800, and 900. Steps of process 1000may be omitted or replaced with any step of process 600, 700, 800 and/or900.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for determining a level of user engagementbased on user interactions, the method comprising: selecting a firsttime interval based on a first start time and a first end time;retrieving a first record of a first plurality of user inputs receivedduring the first time interval, wherein the first record indicates aninput type for each of the first plurality of user inputs; selecting asecond time interval, prior to the first time interval, by shifting thefirst start time and the first end time to determine a second start timeand a second end time for the second time interval; retrieving a secondrecord of a second plurality of user inputs received during the secondtime interval, wherein the second record indicates an input type foreach of the second plurality of user inputs; determining a firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval; determining a second frequency of eachinput type of the second plurality of user inputs during the second timeinterval; generating a first metric that describes the first frequencyof each input type of the first plurality of user inputs during thefirst time interval; generating a second metric that describes thesecond frequency of each input type of the second plurality of userinputs during the second time interval; determining a first media assetconsumed during the first time interval and a second media assetconsumed during the second time interval; tagging the first media assetwith the first metric and the second media asset with the second metric;and determining the level of user engagement for the first media assetbased on the tagging by: comparing the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs with a corresponding secondfrequency of each input type in the second plurality of user inputs;calculating respective percent differences between the first frequencyof each input type in the first plurality of user inputs and thecorresponding second frequency in the second plurality of user inputs;and determining the level of user engagement for the first media assetbased on the respective percent differences.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising: receiving, from a user, the first plurality of userinputs, wherein each user input in the first plurality of user inputscomprises an identification code; transmitting, to a database, aplurality of queries requesting an input type for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs, wherein each query in the plurality ofqueries includes a respective identification code for each input in thefirst plurality of user inputs; receiving, from the database, arespective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs; and storing, for each input in the first plurality of userinputs, an associated input type.
 4. The method of claim 2, whereindetermining the first frequency of each input type of the firstplurality of user inputs during the first time interval comprises:identifying, for the first plurality of user inputs, a plurality ofdifferent input types; iterating, for each input type in the pluralityof different input types, through the first plurality of user inputs;and updating a respective frequency count for each input type in theplurality of different input types when an input of the first pluralityof user inputs matches a respective input type.
 5. The method of claim2, wherein generating the first metric that describes the firstfrequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval comprises generating a vector comprisinga data structure that includes a plurality of different input types anda corresponding frequency of user inputs for each input type of theplurality of different input types.
 6. The method of claim 2, whereindetermining the first media asset consumed during the first timeinterval comprises: identifying, based on the first record, one or moremedia assets that a user consumed during the first interval;determining, based on the first record, respective amounts of time thatthe user spent consuming each of the one or more media assets; anddetermining the first media asset based on the respective amounts oftime.
 7. The method of claim 2, further comprising: generating ashifting time by applying a multiplier to the first start time;determining a third time interval by shifting the first start time andthe first end time by the shifting time; and updating the second metricwith a third plurality of user inputs received during the third timeinterval.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein tagging the first mediaasset with the first metric comprises: generating a data structure forstoring the first metric, wherein the data structure includes a firstfield for each input type associated with the first metric and a secondfield for a frequency corresponding to a respective input type that isassociated with the first metric; and storing with metadata associatedwith the first media asset a link to the data structure.
 9. (canceled)10. The method of claim 2, wherein the first plurality of user inputscomprises inputs generated by a first user and the second plurality ofuser inputs comprises inputs generated by a plurality of users that aresimilar to the first user.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising identifying the plurality of users that are similar to thefirst user based on at least one of demographics and media contentpreferences.
 12. A system for determining a level of user engagementbased on user interactions, the system comprising: control circuitryconfigured to: select a first time interval based on a first start timeand a first end time; retrieve a first record of a first plurality ofuser inputs received during the first time interval, wherein the firstrecord indicates an input type for each of the first plurality of userinputs; select a second time interval, prior to the first time interval,by shifting the first start time and the first end time to determine asecond start time and a second end time for the second time interval;retrieve a second record of a second plurality of user inputs receivedduring the second time interval, wherein the second record indicates aninput type for each of the second plurality of user inputs; determine afirst frequency of each input type of the first plurality of user inputsduring the first time interval; determine a second frequency of eachinput type of the second plurality of user inputs during the second timeinterval; generate a first metric that describes the first frequency ofeach input type of the first plurality of user inputs during the firsttime interval; generate a second metric that describes the secondfrequency of each input type of the second plurality of user inputsduring the second time interval; determine a first media asset consumedduring the first time interval and a second media asset consumed duringthe second time interval; tag the first media asset with the firstmetric and the second media asset with the second metric; and determinethe level of user engagement for the first media asset based on thetagging by: comparing the first frequency of each input type in thefirst plurality of user inputs with a corresponding second frequency ofeach input type in the second plurality of user inputs; calculatingrespective percent differences between the first frequency of each inputtype in the first plurality of user inputs and the corresponding secondfrequency in the second plurality of user inputs; and determining thelevel of user engagement for the first media asset based on therespective percent differences.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to: receive, from a user, thefirst plurality of user inputs, wherein each user input in the firstplurality of user inputs comprises an identification code; transmit, toa database, a plurality of queries requesting an input type for eachinput in the first plurality of user inputs, wherein each query in theplurality of queries includes a respective identification code for eachinput in the first plurality of user inputs; receive, from the database,a respective input type for each input in the first plurality of userinputs; and store, for each input in the first plurality of user inputs,an associated input type.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein thecontrol circuitry is configured, when determining the first frequency ofeach input type of the first plurality of user inputs during the firsttime interval, to: identify, for the first plurality of user inputs, aplurality of different input types; iterate, for each input type in theplurality of different input types, through the first plurality of userinputs; and update a respective frequency count for each input type inthe plurality of different input types when an input of the firstplurality of user inputs matches a respective input type.
 15. The systemof claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, whengenerating the first metric that describes the first frequency of eachinput type of the first plurality of user inputs during the first timeinterval, to generate a vector comprising a data structure that includesa plurality of different input types and a corresponding frequency ofuser inputs for each input type of the plurality of different inputtypes.
 16. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry isconfigured, when determining the first media asset consumed during thefirst time interval, to: identify, based on the first record, one ormore media assets that a user consumed during the first interval;determine, based on the first record, respective amounts of time thatthe user spent consuming each of the one or more media assets; anddetermine the first media asset based on the respective amounts of time.17. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: generate a shifting time by applying a multiplier to thefirst start time; determine a third time interval by shifting the firststart time and the first end time by the shifting time; and update thesecond metric with a third plurality of user inputs received during thethird time interval.
 18. The system of claim 12, wherein the controlcircuitry is configured, when tagging the first media asset with thefirst metric, to: generate a data structure for storing the firstmetric, wherein the data structure includes a first field for each inputtype associated with the first metric and a second field for a frequencycorresponding to a respective input type that is associated with thefirst metric; and store with metadata associated with the first mediaasset a link to the data structure.
 19. (canceled)
 20. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the first plurality of user inputs comprises inputsgenerated by a first user and the second plurality of user inputscomprises inputs generated by a plurality of users that are similar tothe first user.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to identify the plurality of users thatare similar to the first user based on at least one of demographics andmedia content preferences. 22.-51. (canceled)